All Worth It
by KelsIsVictorious
Summary: Five year old Santana Schuester and Brittany Evans instantly become best friends and as they grow closer, Santana notices that Brittany and her older brother Sam are so different from her family… and yet so alike in so many ways.
1. Chapter 1

Okay, this one's a doozy. But I personally think that it'll be an interesting story, but we'll leave that up to you guys. ;D

Please review and let me know what you think!

* * *

><p>"Finn! Noah! Get in here right now!"<p>

Emma Schuester sighed, hesitating slightly before walking up the steps from the basement, where she had been working on the mountain of laundry that her family had created. She had to at least see why her husband was shouting for their two oldest boys.

After she wandered into the kitchen, where she had heard her husband's shouting, and had an instant scan of the room, she wished she hadn't left the dirty sock and undergarments mountain.

Light white goop had invaded the area. It was on the cupboards, the counters, the floor; let's just just to the chase and say that pretty much everything was covered in a fine layer of whatever on earth it was.

It was an obsessive compulsive woman's nightmare.

Or dream. Emma had trouble determining what it was sometimes.

Finn and Noah Schuester stumbled into the room several seconds later, where they found the sticky kitchen, a very angry father and a catatonic mother. "Uh... What seems to be the problem?" Finn asked.

"Don't play dumb, Finn," Will told his son, and he turned to Noah before the 'badass' could comment on the fact that Finn didn't need to play dumb. "Which one of you made this mess?"

"Why do you assume it was one of us?"

"Puck's right, it totally could have been-"

"Oh, come on, boys. Whenever something is ruined or explodes, you two are always the ones behind it," Will told them, arms crossed, giving the sixteen year olds a very stern look.

Puck glanced at his brother. "He's got a point."

Emma, having finally decided to do something besides gawk at the sticky mess and wonder which brand of cleaner would work best on getting it off the walls, let out a shaky breath and calmly said, "We are not angry, boys. We would just like to know what happened."

Finn shrugged. "I'd tell you if I could, Mom. I really don't know what happened."

Emma glanced at her other son. "Noah? Do you?"

He scratched the back of his neck, then mumbled, "I think I heard a motor or something going off down here. And a splatter... and a scream. I kind of thought Kurt was just watching Todd Sweeney or something." Even though he lived with musical-obsessed Kurt, he still didn't know much about musicals.

Will, having calmed down quite a bit, said, "Okay, so if it wasn't you two..." He paused as he saw Finn stroke the tip of his finger against one of the substance covered counters. "What are you doing?"

Emma almost had a heart attack when Finn stuck his finger in his mouth. "Finn, don't eat that! It could be poisonous! Or unsanitary!" As if it appeared out of nowhere, she clutched a wet wipe in her hand and started vigorously wiping his finger off. Will couldn't help but smile at his overprotective wife, who thought the smallest throat tickle was the first sign of tuberculosis. You'd never know that none of their children were biologically theirs.

Finn gently yanked his hand away from her and her sanitary wipe. "Mom, calm down. It's like a milkshake or something."

Will looked at the device on the counter that he had failed to notice before and quietly said, "That would explain the blender..." He ran a hand over his hair that was constantly made fun of by the cheerleading coach of the high school he taught Spanish at. "So if it wasn't Finn or Puck, then there are three suspects left."

"Make that one suspect," a voice called from the entrance of the kitchen. The four Schuesters turned around to look at the three remaining Schuesters, one of which was covered in the same pale liquid.

Kurt, the third oldest child in the family, was grasping onto the hand of the youngest, who looked very guilty. And goopy. "I found this sticky little sneak hiding under my dresser while I was moisturizing. I'm just lucky the floor of my room is hardwood."

The fourth youngest child, holding the little girl's other hand, looked at her parents with guilty brown eyes. "Mom, Dad, I'm so sorry! I was looking after her, I really was, but then I had to go to the bathroom. I was only gone for three minutes, I swear!"

"Tina." Will walked over and placed his hands on her slightly trembling shoulders. "You're not in trouble." He looked down at the small girl between the two teens and crouched down in front of her. "You, on the other hand..."

Emma joined her husband's side and asked, "Santana, honey, what happened?"

The little Latina, refusing to make eye contact with either of her adopted parents, looked down at the tiled floor and murmured, "I was makin' a protein shake, like Coach Sue makes."

Will let out a sigh. "That woman can't even give me a break at my own house."

Emma, a fresh towelette in her hand, started wiping off Santana's cheek. "Sweetie, we know you look up to her, but you shouldn't be making something in the kitchen without supervision from me, Daddy, or your brothers or sister."

Santana looked on the verge of tears, which was usual for the little girl, since she was always so brave and strong. "I'm sorry. Does this mean I can't go to Mini Cheerios?"

Will and Emma exchanged a glance. They weren't particularly fond of who taught the class, but they knew it meant the world to Santana, who wanted to be a cheerleader more than anything. There wasn't too much damage and nobody broke any bones. In the Schuester home, that was their idea of a successful afternoon. "Tell you what," Will started with a small smile as Emma began to wipe off her tan arms. "If you help Mommy clean up this mess and we get yourself cleaned up in time, you can still go."

Santana beamed and launched herself at her father, smearing goop all over him as she cuddled into his chest. "_Gracias, papi_!"

Oh well. Will didn't like that shirt, anyway.

* * *

><p>"San, are you sure you wanna go to this class? I'm pretty sure there's still a spot in the basket weaving class."<p>

"Yeah, Finn! Stop asking!" Santana glared at her eldest brother, who was behind the wheel of the car, driving her, Puck and himself to the Lima recreation center. "Why do you guys hate Coach Sue?"

"Why do you _not _hate her?" Puck asked, twisting around in the passengers seat to look at her. "She makes our dad's life a living hell for no reason, she can't even remember our mom's name, and I'm pretty sure she threw all the cookies you and Tina made at our last Christmas party into the fireplace." Why his mother invited her in the first place, he'll never know.

"She's a good coach," was the only defense Santana could come up with, and she didn't even sound so sure about that.

Santana's love for cheerleading and everything that has to do with cheerleading, including Sue Sylvester, could probably be traced back to the time she had come to work with her parents when her babysitter had been arrested. But that last part is another story entirely.

* * *

><p><em>"Santana?"<em>

_"_Si, papi_?" She had been sitting on on her dad's Spanish classes all day, so she spoke in Spanish whenever she could. _

_"Where are the papers that were on my desk?"_

_Santana twirled around in Will's swivel chair and pointed to the box by his desk, simply because she didn't know the Spanish word for 'shredder.'_

_Will ran a hand over his face and let out a big sigh. "And what did Daddy tell you about those papers?"_

_"Uh... Don't touch them?"_

_"And what did you do?"_

_"... Touch them."_

_Will let out another sigh and shook his head. She was only four, after all. He probably would have done the same thing if he had her simple mind. _

_Heck, he probably would have done it with his more complex thirty seven year old mind if they weren't worksheets for his next class. Shredders were pretty fun. _

_"Well, looks like we'll have to make more copies, won't we? _Vamanos_." He led his daughter out of the room with him before she could ruin anything else. _

_He would have left Santana with Emma while he went to the copy room, but Emma's entire day had been spent counseling a troubled student. He didn't think Santana needed to hear about the fact that that kid was addicted to huffing the pink liquid soap in the bathrooms. Besides, as long as he kept a proper eye on her, she wasn't too much trouble. _

_... Most of the time. _

_Before he could even make the copies, a tall, blonde woman stomped into the break room and almost had an aneurism when she saw what Will was going to do. "Step away from the copier, macaroni head. That is property of the Cheerios and last time I checked, Cheerios weren't washed up Broadway stars with addictions to disturbingly tight vests."_

_Will let out a breath. "Sue, must you talk that way in front of my daughter?"_

_Sue looked down at little Santana, absolutely perplexed. "You got another one? That's like what, thirteen now?"_

_"We adopted Santana four years ago, Sue. You've seen her dozens of time before."_

_"William, you should really talk to someone about your addictions. First vests, now unwanted children. I can't believe Esmeralda would help you support your filthy, child collecting habits."_

_Santana knew she was saying mean stuff about her and her family, but she couldn't find herself to really pay attention to what she was actually saying. She was just so... tall. _

_While the two educators had a screaming match about 'how dare you' this and 'get your own copier' that, Santana snuck past the scary lady's spilt protein shake and out the door to see if she could find one of her big brothers, who were new freshmen to McKinley High. She'd deal with her dad's lecture about sneaking off later. _

_It was supposed to be lunch time, so she was going to check the cafeteria, despite the fact that she would have been squashed in an instant. But as she made her way towards the commons, she passed the open gymnasium doors. And what she saw made her stop and stare. _

_There were so many girls in there, so many pretty girls in pretty uniforms doing such pretty movements. Santana was instantly amazed at the routine they were going over, and how happy they looked while doing it. She didn't know why they were doing it, or what most of the cheers even meant, but she sure wished she could do it with them. _

_They seemed to take a break for a minute, so Santana slowly walked into the gym. She was never really a shy child, but being the only little kid in a room full of cool big girls was a bit intimidating. _

_"Sweetie?"_

_Santana turned to the source of the kind, gentle voice. What she saw was a beautiful girl with golden blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail looking down at her with shining, but confused hazel eyes. "Me?"_

_"Yes, you." The pretty cheerleader crouched down to talk to her on her level. "What are you doing here? Are you lost?"_

_Santana shook her head. "No. My mommy and daddy work here. Daddy's busy yelling at a scary giant."_

_The blonde smiled a small smile, knowing that the scary giant must have been her cheerleading coach. "I see. You must be Mr. and Mrs. Schuester's daughter. Your daddy tells us about you in Spanish class all the time. Santana, right?" Santana nodded, feeling pretty proud, considering someone so cool knew who she was. The pretty girl held out her hand for Santana to shake. "My name is Quinn. I love your dress."_

_It was at that moment that Santana decided Quinn Fabray was the coolest girl on earth. And that she had good taste in clothes. _

_"Let me take you to one of your parents," Quinn told the little girl, standing up and taking her hand. "They'll get worried."_

_Santana didn't want to leave. She wanted to watch the big girls do more pretty dancing things, but she didn't want to backtalk Quinn, so she simply let her lead her out of the gymnasium as soon as she let the other Cheerios know where she was going. _

_"Why were you in there?" Santana asked, pointing back to the gym. _

_Quinn smiled down at her. "We were practicing for the big game on Friday."_

_Santana already knew about the upcoming football game, since it was all Finn and Puck could talk about at the breakfast table that morning, so she didn't ask anymore about that. "But it's lunch time. Aren't you guys hungry?"_

_Quinn's smile faltered, but it was still there. At least a ghost of a smile was there. "Yes. Yes, we are."_

_Quinn didn't say anymore about the subject, and Santana didn't understand what she meant by that, but she didn't want to look like a dumb little kid, so she didn't press any further. _

_"So the giant is yelling at your daddy, huh?" Quinn changed the subject, since the silence, although short, wasn't something she liked. "I think that giant might be my cheerleading coach."_

_"She is?" Quinn nodded and Santana looked down at the purple high tops that used to belong to Tina. "I don't like her. She says mean things and she has a grumpy face. Why do you do what she says?"_

_Quinn shook her head ever so slightly, making her ponytail shake to and fro. "She's not the nicest person around, but she knows a thing or two about cheerleading. I probably wouldn't be where I am now if it wasn't for her."_

_And in Santana's four year old mind, what Quinn said linked Sue to being a pretty, perfect cheerleader and she unknowingly reconsidered her opinion on Sue. _

_"Santana?" Both girls turned around to see Finn, a paper bag in his hand, behind them, looking very confused. More so than usual. Once he saw who had her hand, Finn just looked flustered. "Oh, uh, hey, Quinn."_

_Quinn smiled. "Hi, Finn. I bet you're wondering why I have your sister."_

_"Not really. I can sort of guess what happened." Finn gave his little sister a pointed look and told her, "San, you gotta stop running off like that. You're lucky Quinn found you before Karofsky stepped on you or something." Santana rolled her eyes, something she learned from a twelve year old Kurt, but nodded in understanding. _

_"Why aren't you at lunch?" Quinn asked, looking down at the brown paper bag in his hands. _

_"Oh, uh, I had to ask Mr. Ryerson a question." Finn tried to hide where his mom wrote 'Finny' on his lunch sack in sharpie so pretty, popular Quinn wouldn't think he was a wussy momma's boy. His mom just made really good sandwiches, that's all. "He really liked the fabric of my shirt. He kept touching it and stuff." _

_"... Uh huh." Quinn had to suppress a giggle. Finn, who she pretty much knew as Mr. Schuester's son and a fellow freshman who was lucky enough to get on the football team, seemed a bit naive. He couldn't tell when an obvious pedophile was feeling him up, for God's sake. But at least he was cute about it. "I'm gonna find your dad. He must have noticed she's missing by now."_

_"Yeah, I'll, uh, come with you guys." Santana smiled and took his hand in her free one. As they started walking down the empty hallway again, Finn awkwardly looked down at his shoes, then at Quinn as he asked, "Hey, uh, after we drop her off, maybe you could, y'know, sit with me at lunch... a-and the rest of the football team! They'd totally be there too! So it wouldn't just be you and me, if you're worried about that, but, uh, y'know-"_

_And despite her better judgement, even though she knew Coach Sylvester would give her slack for skipping out on practicing and it could affect her trip on the pathway to head Cheerio next year, Quinn smiled and stopped his ranting by telling him, "I'd love to."_

_Santana smiled to herself. Even though she was only four, she knew her big brother had a crush on her newfound role model. _

_But what she didn't know was she would be the reason Finn and Quinn got together two weeks after that day._

* * *

><p>Santana hadn't even realized how long she had thought about the fateful day two years ago when she discovered she wanted to be a Cheerio until she felt the buckle of the carseat she hated so very much being unbuckled and Puck helped her out of it.<p>

As soon as she got on her feet, Finn handed her the duffel bag she had insisted she needed, even though it was only the first day of class. "I'm just saying, San, basket weaving sounds pretty fu-"

"Finn!" Santana slapped his knee, grabbing onto Puck's hand as they crossed the parking lot and into the rec center.

They reached the large room that Mini Cheerios was supposed to be taught in and Puck looked down at his youngest sister. "Okay, here it is, kid. Finn and I are gonna be shooting some hoops in the gym if you need anything."

"I won't." Santana confidently smiled. "I'm gonna be the best one in there and all the other girls are gonna cry 'cause they aren't as good as me."

Puck let out a short, but loud laugh. "Atta girl." He bent down to give her a kiss on the head and Finn did the same before she finally let go of her brother's hand so she could open the door. After waving goodbye to them, she pushed the door open with all her might and stumbled in as fast as her five year old legs could take her.

The Mini Cheerios class was held in a large room with plenty of space and a high ceiling, so the chatter and laughter of all the little girls bounced off the walls and was probably what caused the disgruntled look on Sue Sylvester, who was at the front of the class.

Santana dragged her bag along with her and as she made her way to the front of the group, she heard a little girl call her 'one of the Schuester orphans'. She recognized the little girl as Sugar Motta, an obnoxious little girl in her kindergarten class. She always talked about something called Aspergers and sang a little too loudly during music time. Not to mention the fact that she always said mean things to people and never got in trouble for it, since after the lone time she got a time out for calling Jacob Ben Israel a 'big dumb weirdo', her daddy threatened to turn the school into a parking lot. Santana didn't like her one bit, and she was willing to get a million time outs just to call her out on her brattiness.

Santana muttered a bad word she learned from Puck as she 'accidentally' rammed her duffel bag into Sugar's side before dropping it on the slick wooden floor. She looked up at Sue as she did, so she saw the bullhorn coming. The other little girls didn't.

After their frightened squeals died down, Sue, standing in front of the group as if she were Hitler and the small girls were her faithful Nazis, scanned the faces in front of her. Or below her. "Ladies. If you have had enough of your mediocre lives of stuffing your faces with aquatic cheese crackers and wetting yourselves and you want to make something of yourselves one day, you've come to the right place." Arms crossed behind her back, she began to pace in front of the small group. "About six or seven years from now, you twigs will enter William McKinley High School, your heads stuffed full of hopes and dreams and glitter glue, only to be shattered once the cold, clammy hand of reality slaps you and makes you eat the teeth that get knocked out of your plaque-infested mouths."

Most of the girls were trembling at that point, but not Santana. She was used to how Sue talked by then.

"But with the help of this class, I will train you to become a Cheerio. The Cheerios will be your sanctuary in an otherwise miserable existence, and if you make it out of this course alive; well, you know what they say about how what doesn't kill you makes you stronger."

The girls were all five or six at the most, so they didn't. But they were successfully scared stiff, all except for Santana. Nothing much scared her. Not even Sue.

"I like to think of this course as an investment in my future as head coach of the Cheerios." Sue stopped pacing and turned to face her new little cheerleaders in the making. "If I train some of you now, then I'll know if you suck or not. That way, there'll be less fatties trying out."

Before Sue could further traumatize the small girls that weren't Santana, the door creaked open again and everyone turned around to see who it was.

"Uh, hi there." A teenage boy with light blonde hair and hazel green eyes, who couldn't be older than sixteen, was holding a small girl with the same blonde hair which was tied up in a high ponytail. "I'm really sorry we're late. Britt locked herself in the bathroom and it took a while to get her out of there."

"I forgot where the door was," the girl quietly said, blankly looking at the rest of the class from her brother's arms.

Most of the other girls snickered, but not Santana. She just observed the way the new girl was clutching onto her brother's shirt. It's the way she usually clutched onto one of her family member's shirts when she didn't want to be left somewhere.

"I don't need your life story, lady lips," Sue told him. "Unless you want to stick around while the girls practice their kicks which will be disturbingly close to your crotch, I'd suggest you leave."

While Sue continued talking, the potential future Cheerios listened closely in fear that she'd bite off the head of anyone who didn't. Santana snuck to the back of the group to observe this strange little girl and her older brother. Or she was at least guessing that's what he was.

"Sammy, I wanna stay with you," she quietly said, wrapping her arms around his neck when he tried to put her down so he couldn't. "I wanna see the pizza elves crawl out of the trunk of your car and hand you the boxes."

Santana could tell Sam was biting back a laugh. "Brittany, we've gone over this. When I deliver the pizzas, I get them from the pizzeria first, where they make them."

"Do elves make them?"

Sam can't look at his sister's innocent face and tell her the truth, so he just smiled and nodded. "They sure do, Britt."

"I still wanna stay with you."

Sam sighed after finally managing to peel her arms away from his neck. He stood her upright and put his large hands on her tiny shoulders. "Look, as soon as class is over, I'll pick you up and you can ride with me until I finish up my shift at Giardi's, okay? You'll have way more fun here. The teacher seems really… Maybe you'll make a new friend." For the first time, Sam noticed that Santana was looking intently at the siblings. He gave her a smile and pointed her out to Brittany. "That little girl looks nice. Why don't you go stand next to her?"

Brittany, for the first time since everyone laughed at her flub, didn't look entirely scared. "Okay."

Sam nodded. "Okay." He kissed her forehead and quietly said, "Oe tìyawn ngenga."

"…Ditto." Brittany waved as Sam made his way out the door before Coach Sylvester could make fun of his lips anymore. As soon as the door was shut, Brittany looked back a the group. Santana was the only one looking at her, since the other girls were listening to Sue talking about putting placenta in protein shakes, whatever that was. Slowly but surely, Brittany walked over to Santana, just like her brother suggested.

"Okay, my future minions, before you can have anything even resembling potential, you'll need to stretch out those string beans you call hammies," Sue told the girls, sitting down in a chair behind a desk at the front of the room and picking up a cheer magazine. Oh, and guess who was on the cover. "Partner up and start stretching so the torture can begin."

While most of the girls scurried around, looking for a partner, Brittany and Santana stayed where they were. Santana offered her a small smile. "Hi. I'm Santana."

"No, I'm not. I'm Brittany."

Santana blinked, then slowly said, "No, I meant _my_ name is Santana."

"Oh." Brittany grinned. "That's pretty."

Most kids just comment on how 'Santana' is a weird name. Santana likes Brittany already.

Santana sat on the ground and began doing some toe stretches that Quinn taught her. Brittany mindlessly followed, as she figured that was what they were supposed to do. "Hey, what were those words your brother said to you before he left? Were those bad words? Puck won't teach me all of them, 'cause he says Mommy will get mad at him if he does."

Brittany shook her head. "It's Na'vi. That's how the people in Avatar talk. I think people in Taiwan speak it too."

Though Santana doubts the part about Taiwan, she nodded. "Oh. What does it mean?"

"I love you." Brittany grinned as she tried to reach her toes. "Sam's really smart. He knows lots about movies and he knows how to talk in lots of funny voices."

"My brothers talks in funny voices. But that's just what their voices sound like."

Brittany actually got that joke, so she laughed along with Santana and finally touched her toes. Unfortunately, that involved her faceplanting on the hardwood floor.

At least she did it. Santana could tell she was at least doing better than the other rejects in that class.

* * *

><p>"Dude, you could have passed the ball to me at least once."<p>

"Hey, when I'm in the zone, there's no stopping Puckzilla, bro."

Finn shoved his adoptive brother and best friend, chuckling the entire time. They had just emerged from the locker rooms, freshly showered and dressed, since their clean freak of a mother probably wouldn't have let them into the house if they didn't. Now they just had to get their sister and they could go home and shove a well-deserved meal down their throats.

They brushed past several parents, towing their sore and horrified daughters away from the room where Mini Cheerios had been held. The only two girls left were the only two girls who didn't seem to have been broken by Sue. In fact, they were sitting on the ground, propped up against Santana's duffel bag, giggling about one thing or another. "Hey, 'Tana," Finn greeted, his usual goofy grin creeping onto his face. "Did you have fun?"

"Yeah!" Santana beamed up at her brothers. "Coach Sue says Britt and I were the best ones, and Sugar Motta cried like a big baby when she said that!"

Puck let out a snort, wishing he could have seen the little brat throw a fit, considering he had heard all the stories Santana told about her. "Guess you were right after all." He looked down at the little blonde, as if noticing her for the first time. "Aren't you going to introduce us to this little lady?"

"I'm not a little lady," Brittany said with a blank, yet very confused expression. "I'm Brittany."

From the hour and a half they had spent together, Santana gathered that Brittany wasn't the sharpest crayon in the box, but her brothers hadn't had that opportunity yet, so as Finn and Puck's faces twisted in confusion, she said, "Uh, yeah, this is Brittany. She's really nice and she's gonna be a pimpin' Cheerio someday."

Finn glanced over at his brother. "Dude, stop teaching her to talk like that."

Before Puck could retaliate, Santana continued with the introductions. "Britt, these are my brothers. The freakishly tall one is Finn."

Finn feigned hurt. "Thanks a lot, sis."

Santana rolled her eyes and smirked. "And the other goofball is Puck."

"I like your hair," Brittany quietly said, looking up at Puck. "It looks like there's a ferret sleeping on your head. And the ferret got run over by a steam roller."

"Uh…"

Finn leaned over and whispered, "I think that was supposed to be a compliment."

"Oh. Uh, thank you, then."

Santana looked back at Brittany. "And I told you about Kurt and Tina, but they're not here. You can meet them if you ever come over to play."

"Okay, say goodbye to Brittany, Santana," Puck told her, slinging his backpack over his shoulder. "We gotta get home."

Santana pouted, stubbornly crossing her arms. "I'm not leaving Brittany alone."

"But Mom's worry wart's gonna explode if we don't-"

"No, Santana's got a point," Finn said, exchanging a glance with his brother. "We shouldn't leave her alone."

"She's not alone. Coach Sylvester is right-" Puck looked at the woman, who was back at her desk, absorbed in an article in her magazine about what an outstanding cheer coach she was, and thought about what he was going to say. "Yeah, we should probably stick around."

Finn looked back down at Brittany. "When was your mom or dad supposed to get here?"

Brittany seemed confused by that question. Santana seemed to think she knew what the problem was, so she decided to clarify. "Didn't _Sam_ say he'd pick you up after practice?"

"Oh. Yeah." Brittany nodded. "He'll be here really soon. He'd never forget me." Brittany didn't know much, but she knew that.

And as if on cue, Sam Evans walked through the door literally ten seconds later. "Hey, Britt. Sorry I'm-" He paused once he saw the boys around his age two feet away from his sister. "Oh. Hi there. I'm Sam, Brittany's brother."

"Hey, man." Finn placed a hand on Santana's shoulder, as she had gotten up and helped Brittany up as well. "We're Santana's brothers. I'm Finn Schuester."

Puck nodded in a 'sup?' manner. "Puck."

"That's… That's an interesting name."

"It's a nickname. Short for my last name, Puckerman."

Sam looked almost as confused as his sister usually did. "Uh, I thought Finn just said his last name was Schuester. Are you guys stepbrothers or something?"

Puck shook his head. "Puckerman's actually my old last name. When the Schuesters took me in, I took their name but the nickname just sort of stuck."

Any confession of that sort about his past usually raised eyebrows, but Sam seemed cool with that explanation. "Ah. Cool." He had already assumed Santana was adopted, so maybe that was why he hadn't been that surprised.

"You go to McKinley?" Finn's eyebrows scrunched in confusion. "I don't think I've seen you around." In a town as small as theirs, everyone pretty much knew everybody. So not knowing somebody was rare.

"Nah, we, uh, just moved here. And I'm not going to McKinley," Sam explained, stuffing one of his hands in his pocket.

"Oh. You going to Dalton?"

"… Yeah. Look, it was really nice to meet you guys, but I need to get back to work. I'm technically not even supposed to be here." Puck and Finn nodded in understanding as Sam held his hand out to his sister. "C'mon, Britt. Maybe if we hurry, you'll get to see one of the pizza elves."

Brittany gasped in excitement and let his big hand envelop hers. "Let's go!" She looked back at Santana and waved. "Bye! See you next week… Whenever that is."

Santana ran over to hug her new friend. "Bye! I'll ask my mommy and daddy if you can sleep over soon."

Sam smiled before he led Brittany out the door. His hunch about that little girl had apparently been right.

When the door was shut, Finn and Puck lead Santana out the other exit so they could get back to their car quicker and so their mother would be less likely to worry about why they had stayed so much later than they said they would. Which was, in reality, only about ten or twelve minutes. "Did something seem off about that Sam guy? Like, how he seemed kind of shifty?"

Finn shrugged. "He was probably just in a hurry to get back to work."

"Yeah, probably, but it was also kind of weird… Y'know, when Brittany didn't seem to know what we were talking about when we asked about her mom and dad."

"Dude, you're talking about a girl who thought calling your hair road kill was a compliment. She probably just got confused."

Puck nodded, shrugging it off as he helped Santana into her car seat and snugly buckled her up. After they got settled in and started driving away, Santana looked out the window and watched as the recreation center got farther and farther out of sight. She wished she could see Brittany sooner than in a week.

If only she knew what was yet to come.

* * *

><p>Well, there you go.<p>

I know there wasn't much Kurt or Tina, but don't worry, there will be. However, it will probably mostly be Santana and Brittany.

And while we're talking about that, this is strict Brittana friendship. I'm a Brittana shipper as well, but not all love has to be romantic. Love is bigger than that. And besides, they're five. Sweet lady kisses are the last thing on her mind.

Just to keep the ages in line to avoid confusion, here they are:

Will- 39  
>Emma- 38<br>Finn- 16  
>Puck- 16 (younger by a few months)<br>Kurt- 15  
>Tina- 14<br>Santana- 5  
>Brittany- 5<br>Sam- 16

Sue's age isn't that important, because she's immortal.

As the story progresses, we'll find out why the Schuester kids are where they are now and how they joined the Schuester family. And maybe we'll figure out more about the Evans too...

Please review! Reviews are how I know if I'm screwing things up or not! :D


	2. Chapter 2

So, hey, um. I know it's been a while. But this story will not be abandoned! The new episodes have given me quite a few great ideas... But please enjoy, and leave a review, if you would! :D

* * *

><p>"Tina?"<p>

"Yeah, San?"

"Do you have a best friend?"

The Schuester girls were spending their Friday afternoon making friendship bracelets, so Tina figured that was why Santana asked. "Sure. You remember Mercedes, right?"

Santana nodded, still looking down at her crochet bracelet in concentration. "Yeah. But is she really your bestest friend in the world?"

Tina actually had to stop and think about that for a moment. The diva was probably tied with Kurt, but she still replied, "Yes. I do still have a few other good friends, though. Why?"

Santana shrugged, still focusing on the black and purple bracelet being fabricated in her hands. "I don't have a best friend and I was just wonderin'."

Tina frowned, suddenly feeling guilty, even though she really hadn't done anything wrong. She knew Santana was having a hard time making friends at school, and though she had mentioned a few kids that she casually played with at recess, the way she talked about them made it seem she played with them for mere convenience, so she wouldn't feel so lonely. "Hey, it's okay to not have a best friend. Some people have a lot of best friends, and some people don't have a best friend at all."

Santana finally looked up at her sister. "Really?"

Tina gave her a smile and nodded. "Sure! Friends don't always need fancy labels."

Santana nodded. She supposed that made sense. "Can sisters and brothers be best friends?"

"Of course they can," Tina told her, finishing up the rainbow bracelet she made for Kurt. "Puck and Finn are best friends. They were before Puck came to live with us and they still are, more than ever, now that they're brothers." Tina poked Santana's little nose before adding, "Sometimes brothers and sisters can be the best friends you can ask for."

That made perfect sense to Santana. Her brothers and sister were great. Even though they were so much older than she was, they were always there for her and always made her happy.

Well, most of the time, at least.

After Santana finished up her bracelet, she looked back at her sister and held the bracelet up to her. "Can I be your other best friend?"

Tina saw the innocent look on Santana's face, which was always funny to see, considering all the trouble she generally got into, and her heart melted instantly. "Of course you can!" The Asian girl leaned across the table they were seated at in the kitchen to give her sister a kiss on the cheek and let her sloppily tie the bracelet onto her wrist.

And just like that, the sisterly moment was interrupted when the front door was thrown open and the boys of the house were back from their game of touch football. Judging from all the grass and mud stains on their clothing, it seemed like it ended up being more than touch football.

Finn and Puck were laughing and looked as if they had a grand old time, while Kurt just looked horrified. How Finn and Puck convinced him to play football with them, Mike Chang, and some of the guys from Dalton Academy was beyond either of the girls' comprehension. "I can't believe you two talked me into that," Kurt muttered, plopping down on the chair next to Tina. Thankfully there weren't any cushions on their chairs, so it would be easy to clean up the muddy butt print Kurt left. "Look at what all that barbarianism did to my clothes!"

Finn scoffed, taking a seat to Santana's left. "Dude, you're wearing sweats, and you never wear those anyway."

"Yes, but still..." Kurt huffed as Tina pulled a clump of dirt out of his hair.

Puck took a seat at the head of the table, between Santana and Tina. "Besides, you know you liked it when that Anderson guy tackled you. He stayed on you for at least ten seconds." Puck smirked. "I wouldn't be surprised if either one of you had a few hickeys."

Kurt gave him a scolding look, even though Puck was a year older than him. "Noah, don't talk about that in front of Santana!"

Santana finished her latest bracelet and looked up at Kurt. "Why not? I know what hockey is. It's what morons play."

Finn laughed, a sense of pride in knowing that she had gotten the lesson he had been trying to teach his entire family for years washing over him, but said, "No, Santana, a hickey is-"

"Finneas, don't you dare finish that sentence!" Kurt scolded, right after thanking Tina for the bracelet she made for him.

"... Dude, for the thousandth time, my full first name isn't 'Finneas.'"

As he let Tina tie the new bracelet on his wrist, Kurt merely shrugged. "If I had had any say in it, it would have been."

"So... What's this Blaine like?" Tina asked, looking up from the rainbow strings to smirk at her elder brother by a year. "I always figured you'd marry up."

"Ugh, I swear, you're worse than Finn and Puck sometimes." Kurt rolled his eyes. "Blaine is indeed wealthier than us, but he's a very nice boy, and I'll admit that he's very handsome," Kurt told his siblings, mostly his older brothers, who loved to tease him about guys that might like him, even though he was basically the only out kid in Lima. "But I'm pretty sure he's not gay."

"Dude, have you seen how he dresses when he's not playing football or he's not in his Dalton uniform?" Puck rolled his eyes. "Either he's gay or he just really likes tight, brightly colored pants."

"Don't be mean to him," Tina said, feeling the need to stand up for her new neighbor. "He seems really nice."

"I'm not saying he isn't. I'm just saying his pants are tight and colorful." Before Puck could say anything else, he finally noticed the pile of friendship bracelets in the middle of the table. "Sheesh, you two aren't picky when it comes to friends."

"We just started out making a few... But then Santana wanted to make more." Tina picked one of the red, black and white ones out of the pile, and Santana took the other one. "Actually, these were one of the first ones we made."

After Tina handed hers to Puck and Santana handed hers to Finn, they were able to see that their team numbers were on the crochet bracelets. And that they didn't look nearly as girly as the other ones, probably because they had been made thicker, so they could wear them without getting slushied for wearing woman's jewelry. Sweet.

Finn smiled at Santana who looked pretty proud of her work. "Thanks, girls. These are awesome." Finn reached his arms out to give his little sister a hug, but she scooted away before he could.

"Nuh-uh. I'm not hugging you until you take a bath." Santana's nose wrinkled and she told them, "You stink."

Finn feigned a hurt expression. "Oh come on, I don't smell that-" Finn had been lifting the neck of his T-shirt up to look and see whether a stain on it was blood or just really red dirt, but

he only managed to get a whiff of the sweat stain around it. The resulting face was pretty hilarious. "Okay, maybe I'll take a shower."

As Finn got up and left the room, the rest of the kids heard the front door open and close. Their adoptive parents came in moments later, after a hard day of work.

"Mommy, Daddy, look at the pretty bracelets me and Tina made!" Santana cried, holding up a handful of the macrame creations.

Emma, after placing hers and her husband's Superman and Wonder Woman lunch boxes in the pantry so they'd be ready for next Monday, walked over to give each of her available children a kiss on the forehead, even sweaty and dirty Puck and Kurt. Her OCD never really affected her quite as badly when it came to her kids. It helped that she took a wet wipe and scrubbed their foreheads before kissing them. "Those look great, girls."

"Looks like you boys had fun," Will commented, giving his sons a small grin. "I'm guessing Finn's in the shower, and I'd suggest you two do the same."

"Why? I can just spray Axe on my pits or something." Puck crossed his arms behind his head, as if wanting to show off his man-stink. It only made the rest of his family cover their noses or even their mouths, as if they'd vomit at any minute.

But then Emma and Will, who were exhausted from the trials and tribulations of being a high school guidance counselor and Spanish teacher, told their smelly son that they weren't going to order pizza just to have the pizza delivery guy die from the fumes of his body odor.

Puck practically shoved Finn out of the bathroom after that.

/ /

After much arguing over the toppings of the pizza, the Schuester clan finally agreed on a large pepperoni from their favorite pizza place. In the mean time, while Will was helping Finn with his Spanish homework, since he didn't want his own son to fail his class, and Emma was cleaning the upstairs bathroom to unwind, the lazier Schuester kids were piled on the leather sectional couch in the living room, watching some mindless cartoon. It was the only thing currently on that would have been appropriate for Santana to watch. Not that that ever stopped her from watching Jersey Shore when either nobody was around or Puck was the only one there and let her get away with it. But with Tina and Kurt there to control them, Snooki and the Situation would have to wait.

As the protagonist of the colorful show jumped onto some kind of stretchy unicorn creature thing, Santana leaned into Kurt's side to make herself more comfortable. Kurt obviously didn't feel the same way, as he let out a pained squawk. The other three turned to look at him, since none of them had been that interested in the show anyway.

Santana scooted away from him and asked, "What the hell was that noise for?"

"Hey, watch your mouth, Santana." Puck almost sounded like a responsible older brother until he turned to Kurt and asked, "What the hell was that noise for?"

What an excellent role model.

Kurt sighed. "I'm sorry. I just... I think I bruised when Blaine tackled me."

"Did he really tackle you that hard?" Tina asked. She knew Kurt bruised like a peach, but still.

"Y-Yes. I suppose he did."

Puck was about to question that, since he had seen them weakly tumble over and Blaine wasn't exactly the most aggresive guy, but the doorbell rang and interrupted him completely.

"I'll get it!" Santana attempted to crawl over Puck's lap to get out of the corner seat of the sectional, but Puck grabbed her and threw her over his shoulder as he stood up. "Put me down, Puck!"

Ignoring the tiny fists pounding on his back, Puck smirked and carried her off. "You're not the one who has the money to pay for the pizza, squirt. I do... Unless the pizza guy will accept little girls instead of money..." That earned him a furious squeal and even harder slaps to the back. They were still barely painful.

Puck put her down in the foyer, chuckled at the livid face she was giving him, then threw the door open. It took him a moment to recognize the blonde Bieber-haired guy who had on khakis and a blue polo with matching visor. "Sam?"

As his name tag suggested, it was indeed Sam Evans, who looked up from the receipt in his free hands with a slightly confused face. Once he saw the two familiar people, his confusion disappeared. "Oh. Hey, long time, no see," he said jokingly, considering they had just met each other the day before. "Puck, right?"

He nodded as he dug around in his pocket for the money his parents had given him for the pizzas. "So, you work at Giardi's, huh? We love that place."

"Yeah, it's got a pretty good pay, too. The owner's wife is kind of a freak, though. And her kids..." He shuddered slightly just imagining the three ginger terrors that always seemed to invade Giardi's pizzeria, but a light tugging from the bottom of his polo snapped him out of his momentary flashback to the time all three of them tried to get a piggy back ride from him at once.

"Sammy, I think that pizza is dying."

After inspecting the bottom of one of the pizza boxes that the little girl pointed at, Sam told her, "That's just grease, Britt."

"Oh."

Santana, who had been yanking on her brother's arm because she wanted him to stop shooting the breeze and get the dang pizzas, noticed her new friend as she stepped out from behind Sam's legs. "Brittany!"

Brittany shot her a glance, but quickly smiled. "Santana!" As Sam handed the two boxes to Puck, Brittany shot past both boys and gave Santana a big hug. "You smell like sunshine and water."

"Uh, thanks."

As Puck tried to figure out how much of a tip he was supposed to give him, Sam noticed that Brittany had gone into the Schuester home when he wasn't looking. "Brittany, you're not supposed to go into the houses."

Brittany guiltily frowned at him. "But I wanted to see Santana..."

Before Sam could tell her to come back, a sweet, gentle voice called out, "Noah, dear, did the pizzas arrive yet?" The click clacking of heels indicated that Emma was walking into the foyer, but she paused once she saw the unfamiliar blonde girl clutching her daughter. "Why, hello there," Emma greeted her with a small, confused smile. "I don't remember ever meeting you."

"That's okay," Brittany said, looking up at the woman and never letting go of Santana. "I don't remember a lot of things."

"Mommy, this is my friend Brittany," Santana told her mother, finally wriggling out of Britt's death grip. "She's in Mini Cheerios too."

Emma crouched down and smiled at her. "Well, it's very nice to meet you. What brings you here?"

"I'm working with Sammy," Brittany explained, pointing to the blonde boy, who was trying to grab onto her hand without stepping into the house and breaking the Pizza Boy Code of Conduct. Or something. "He brings pizzas to people who don't have pizza elves at their house."

"I see." Emma stood back up and smiled at Sam, holding out her hand to him. "I'm Mrs. Schuester. You must be Brittany's brother." She ran her free hand across Santana's raven locks and told him, "Santana's told us almost as much about you as she has about Brittany."

He shook her hand as Puck handed him an appropriate tip, and he returned the smile. A friendly adult face was nice, for a change. "It's nice to meet you, ma'am, but Brittany and I should really get going."

"I wanna stay here with Santana," Brittany quietly said, holding Santana's hand. "Your car smells like sausage."

Sam let out a deep sigh and crouched down, still outside the door. "Britt, we still have more pizzas to deliver and you need to stay with me."

Oh, his parents must have been busy, Emma thought to herself, looking down at the little girls as they exchanged a sad glance. "We have plenty of pizza," Emma mused quietly, but loudly enough for Sam to hear. "Brittany's welcome to stay here until your shift is over, if that would be okay with your parents."

Heh. That would imply their parents cared.

Sam was normally hesitant to leave Brittany places, but he had heard many good stories about the Schuester family. Most of them from his parents, actually, who were never exactly beacons of honesty, but from what he had seen, the mom at least seemed as nice as his mother had mentioned. "I don't want to impose."

Emma kindly smiled and placed a hand on Brittany's tiny shoulder. "It's no trouble at all. We'd love to have her."

Brittany's eyes lit up as she looked up at her brother. "Can I, Sammy? Huh, can I? Pretty please with a peanut allergy on top?"

Brittany always came up with the weirdest toppings for her pretty pleases.

"Uh... Yeah, if you really don't mind, Mrs. Schuester."

"There's always room in this family," Emma told him, smacking Puck on the shoulder when he muttered some sarcastic response to that.

Sam slowly smiled and gave her a grateful nod. "Thanks, Mrs. Schuester. That's... That's really nice."

Emma's response was drowned out by Brittany and Santana's squeals of joy and before Santana could drag her friend off to show her her toys, Brittany walked over to Sam and wrapped her arms around his leg. "Thank you, Sammy. I love you bunches."

Sam grinned down at his sister and bent down so he could push her bangs out of her face and kiss her forehead. "You too, Britt. Have fun and be good."

Brittany nodded and detached herself from Sam before running off with Santana to wherever.

Sam thanked Mrs. Schuester both for her pizza purchase and her kindness before he began walking back to the car he had been provided with by the Giardi's. He was still hesitant to leave his baby sister with those people. They seemed as nice as they could be, but that would only make it worse if Britt told them a little too much.

He pushed that thought aside. They had discussed things they shouldn't talk about with other people in length and besides, Brittany deserved a little fun. Lord knows the past few weeks hadn't been easy on them.

But he didn't have time to think about the past. The other pizzas were going to get cold.

/ /

"Wow." Brittany stroked the long blonde locks of one of the many Barbies Santana had and looked up at her. "You have lots of toys."

"Some of them used to be Tina's." Santana took note of how Brittany held the doll, how she looked at it as if it was the most beautiful thing in the world. "Do you have any Barbies?"

Brittany's smile faltered, but didn't completely disappear. "I used to."

Santana's eyebrows scrunched in confusion, but she didn't ask what happened to them. Brittany looked sad and she didn't want to make her any sadder. She didn't like it when Brittany was sad. "We can play with mine."

Brittany smiled and nodded. "Okay! They can be cheerleaders, like us."

As Santana dug around in her Barbie crate for another doll, there was a knock on Santana's open door. Both girls looked up to see Will standing in the doorway, a plate with a pizza slice and a napkin in each hand. "Hey there. Can you girls take a pizza break?"

"But Mommy says no eating in my room," Santana reminded him as he sat down on her bed. Not that she didn't break that rule all the time, but still.

"Mommy and I are making an exception for tonight." Will smiled at his adoptive daughter and her new friend as he handed them their plates. Santana didn't have kids her age over often. And when she did, they usually ended up hating each other by the time the other kid left. This Brittany girl seemed different. "Just be careful."

He got up to leave and after he was out the door, Brittany gingerly sat the doll on the floor along with her plate. "My mommy says if she had been more careful, I wouldn't be here."

Santana didn't understand what that meant. She would have asked Brittany, but she figured she didn't know either and it was just one of those things she blurted out that didn't mean anything. Maybe she'd ask someone else later.

Both girls began eating their pizza and planning out what their cheerleader Barbies were going to do and what shoes they were going to wear, which were most likely going to be mismatched since Santana had lost most of them. By the time their pizza slices were gone, Brittany had successfully wiped her hands clean, but there was sauce all over her mouth. Santana leaned over and used her napkin to clean her off. Her mother rubbed off on her in certain aspects.

"I like your daddy," Brittany said out of nowhere after they had picked their dolls up and resumed playing. "And your mommy."

Santana made her Barbie do splits that would split a real person in half and said, "I like them too. They're nice to me."

"Why don't you look like them?"

Santana got this question a lot. It didn't really bother her to answer anymore. "Kids only look like their mommy and daddy when they grow in their mommy's tummy. I look different 'cause my mommy and daddy bought me at the little kid store."

Well, that's what Puck had told her it was called. Her daddy told him not to call it that, but she didn't know the real name for where they had gotten her.

Brittany's face scrunched in confusion. "Why would a baby be in a mommy's tummy? Mommies aren't supposed to eat their babies."

Oh. Brittany must not know about where babies really come from. Her mommy kind of did tell her not to go around talking about it. Oh well.

What was that other baby making method she had seen on TV? Um... Oh yeah! "I mean... Sometimes storks bring babies to the wrong house, so the babies have to go to the little kid store so their real mommies and daddies can buy them back. That's what happened with me and my brothers and sister. Our stork wasn't very good at his job."

"Oh. Okay." Brittany's head bobbed up and down in a nod and she went back to picking out mismatched shoes for her Barbie.

It was at that moment that Santana decided to ask, "Do you like your mommy and daddy?" She was kind of shocked when Brittany shook her head no. Who doesn't like their mommy and daddy? "Why not?"

"My daddy isn't home much. And when he is, he and Mommy yell and say mean words." Brittany put a high heel on one plastic foot and a sneaker on the other.

Santana frowned at that. She couldn't imagine her parents doing that. They had fights, but they never really yelled during them and they certainly didn't say mean words. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay." Brittany meekly shrugged. "Sammy says we don't have to worry about them anymore."

Huh. Sam seemed to know what he was talking about, so okay...

"Let's get more dolls so we can make a pyramid."

"But I don't like Chinese food."

"..."

/ /

"Oh, wow, that's certainly an... interesting outfit you picked for that Barbie, Brittany," Kurt murmured as his sister's friend held up the doll to him. He almost regretted coming in to introduce himself.

Brittany still smiled despite Kurt's wary tone and took the doll back from him. "I want to dress like her when I grow up."

Kurt resisted the urge to tell her to just have a zebra made of pink and purple glitter throw up on her and nodded with a somewhat convincing smile. "I'm sure you'll be just as pretty as she is when you're bigger. You're already a cutie."

Brittany giggled and looked down at her lap sheepishly. Santana was about to tell Kurt to get out so they could keep playing, but before she could, Brittany looked back up at the gay teen and said, "I like your voice. It's pretty."

Huh. Most kids just asked him why he sounded like a girl. That was a refreshing change. A genuine smile spread across his face and he leaned over to poke her nose. "You're sweet."

"My grandma used to say she could eat me up. I think I'm made out of cotton candy." Brittany nodded with a completely serious expression on her face. "I try to eat myself sometimes, but my brother keeps stopping me."

Cute, sweet and a little weird. Perfect combination for a child, in Kurt's opinion.

He got up off the floor to leave, but before he was out the door, he looked down at Santana. "Oh, San, your bracelets are on the kitchen table. Mom wants you to pick them up."

Santana rolled her eyes, but nodded. Those bracelets weren't hurting anyone sitting there. Why'd she have to pick them up? She was playing with her new friend.

... Wait.

"Britt?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you have a best friend?"

"... No." Brittany shook her head. "I don't think so."

"Do you wanna be mine?"

Brittany's head tilted slightly as she tried to think that over. "What does a best friend do?"

Santana honestly didn't have any experience, but she had seen enough best friends on TV to know the basic elements. "Best friends are always there for each other. They help them with problems and make them happy. And they give each other cookies and help you fight crime."

Brittany nodded as she took that all in. "That sounds like fun." She smiled and said. "I'll be your best friend. But you have to be mine too."

Santana smiled. "Deal." She held out her pinky, which Brittany just stared at. Before she could attempt to bite it, Santana noted her confusion and said, "We need to make a pinky promise. Puck says pinky promises are legit."

Brittany nodded, but still didn't know what to do with Santana's outstretched pinky.

"Hold out your right pinky, like me." Santana decided Brittany needed some guidance for this, and it apparently helped because Brittany did as she said. But with the wrong hand. "No, your other right." Brittany quickly switched hands. "Now put your pinky next to mine and bend it." Brittany bent said pinky and Santana did the same with hers, linking them together. "You pinky promise to be the bestest friends ever?"

Brittany nodded. "I pinky promise."

Santana beamed as she stood up, her pinky still linked with Brittany's. "We need to do one more thing. Come on!"

Brittany stood up with her and followed her down the hall and the steps, finding it difficult to keep their pinkies linked, but doing everything in her power to keep them that way. She kind of liked it.

Once they made it to the kitchen, Santana crawled up onto a chair by the table, having to finally take her right hand back. Darn it.

She came back down with a handful of handmade bracelets and asked, "These are friendship bracelets. We need ones that match."

Brittany looked down at the bracelets, trying to determine which ones matched because she kind of had a hard time telling the difference between blue and green, when she noticed there were two thin bracelets that were red and white. "Those will match our Mini Cheerio uniforms when we get them."

Santana looked at the ones Brittany pointed at and nodded in agreement. "Yeah. Wait here." Santana ran off to put the other bracelets away so she wouldn't get in trouble with her mom.

Brittany just obediently stood there, waving to Tina, who she had met a while ago, when she walked into the kitchen. "Hey, Brittany. Where's Santana?"

Before Brittany could respond with something that most likely made no sense, Santana scurried back into the kitchen, the two bracelets Brittany had picked out in her hands. "Tina! Tina!" Santana tugged on her sister's sleeve. "Brittany's my best friend! We're gonna have bracelets and everything!"

Well, looks like that lovely moment they had before meant nothing.

Ha, just kidding. Tina couldn't have been happier for her sister. And like she said before, you can have more than one best friend.

Santana had four before, and now she has five.

"You want me to help you tie them on?" Santana and Brittany nodded, so Tina got on her knees, carefully tied a bracelet on each girl's right wrist ("No, Britt, your other right," Santana had to remind her) and smiled when she saw how their faces lit up when they glanced at one another, as if having the bracelets on transformed them or something.

Tina had a feeling that this friendship was going to be something special.

/ /

"Sammy, look! Santana gave me a bracelet and we linked pinkies! That means we're best friends!"

"Yeah, I see that," Sam said with a smile, crouched down at the entrance of the house so he could talk to Brittany more personally. "That's great, Britt. So I'm guessing you had fun?"

"From how much they ran around the house and all the noise they made, I'd say that's a safe bet," Finn, who had answered the door, said, faintly smirking when Santana stuck her tongue out at him.

"I hope she wasn't any trouble," Sam said, looking up at the tall teen from his spot down by Brittany.

"You're too polite for your own good sometimes, Evans," Finn told him with a smile. "We're used to noise in this house. Little girl squeals were a refreshing change from my little brother screaming at Puck and I for making him play football."

Sam cracked a small smile at that as he stood up. "You play football? Heh, I used to play football at my old school."

"You any good?" Sam nodded. "You should play with us sometime. We usually play with some Dalton guys. You might know them."

Sam had almost forgotten he told them he went there. "Yeah, I might... Maybe if I get some time off work."

Finn nodded. "Sounds like a plan."

Brittany slowly realized that she was leaving Santana behind, so she frowned and held out her arms, silently asking for a hug. Santana was more than happy to oblige. "Bye, best friend."

"I'll see you at Mini Cheerios." Santana waved as Brittany walked out the door and took Sam's hand. She didn't really need to hold it since the car was parked right in front of the house, but she still liked to hold his hand. It made her feel safe.

The Schuesters were the first people in a while besides Sam that made her feel safe.

/ /

"Can I have a Barbie, Sam?"

Sam momentarily glanced at his sister in the rearview mirror. He hadn't been able to afford a booster seat for her, so she was just sitting on the hump instead. He knew that wasn't completely safe for someone so small, but he'd have to save up if he wanted to get her a decent one. And they still had to budget for food and clothes... How was he supposed to get her a Barbie on top of all that?

He almost told her that he wasn't sure he could manage that, but how could he say that? He hadn't had any room in their bags to put any of her toys in and she kind of did deserve a little treat. He could always get one of those knockoffs from the dollar store or something. She'd never notice the difference. "I'll see what I can do."

As they pulled into an empty parking spot, Brittany smiled at him. Sammy was always so good to her. Like how Santana's parents seemed to her.

Thinking about parents made Brittany think of her own parents. As Sam opened one of the rusty back doors of the junky car that Giardi's gave him for his job and began unbuckling his sister, she looked up at him. "Why didn't Mommy and Daddy like us?"

Honestly, Sam didn't really know. Their parents didn't necessarily not like them. They just cared more about themselves, he supposed. But how could he word that to a five year old?

Sam tried to smile at her, but it wasn't all that good. Even Brittany wasn't convinced. "Hey. You don't have to worry about them anymore, okay? I got us out of there. Once I figure things out, it'll only go up from there."

Brittany tried to understand everything that had happened and everything that was going to happen. She really did. But it was complicated. Hell, it was even more complicated for Sam than it was for her. And that's saying something.

All she did was nod to that and held her arms out to be carried. Sam complied, lifting her up into his arms and letting her rest her head on his shoulders as he carried her away and awkwardly shifted her so he could dig his keys out of his pocket. After locking the car, he carried her over to the run down building, unlocked the door labeled 105 and threw the door to their shabby motel room open.

Hey, it beat a cardboard box under a bridge.


End file.
